Wednesday, May 31, 2017

The second part of our tour, in the southern, more frequently visited
and hotter part of Iran, began with our arrival in Shiraz. We were scheduled to
drive out to Persepolis the afternoon of the first day – by somebody who had never
been there in the heat of the day, according to our guide.

She had arranged instead
for us to go to Persepolis in the cool early morning of the next day, and took
us to the Naranjestan Gardens and Nasir al Molk Mosque – both of which
were pretty cool, even on a hot afternoon.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

After exploring the many levels and barrel-vaulted passages of
Takhte e Soleyman, we continued on our way to Qasvin, stopping to climb around the
various levels of the ethereal blue interior of the massive Soltaniyeh Dome at
Zanjan.

Interior undergoing renovation
of all levels.

This building, the oldest double-shell dome in the world, is a key monument
in the history of Islamic architecture.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

After spending the night in Takab in a
memorable ‘basic’ hotel, we proceeded higher into the Alborz Mountains to the
1500-year-old Takhte e Soleyman fortress, spectacularly-located on a volcano
crater rim. The surrounding snow fields, which included orchards beginning
to blossom, made the place even more other-worldly than expected.

Sunday, May 21, 2017

The second remote archaeological site we
visited was the ­subterranean Mehri Temple in Maraqeh, recently re-discovered
and at this point still being excavated. The sketch above is a combination of photos
taken in three directions (think of it as a Cubist approach) showing Quranic
inscriptions around the walls indicating that, although it was originally built
in the 3rd century BCE by sun-worshippers, it was used as a mosque
in the 13th century CE.

Finally we toured the ancient Sorkh Dome, built in the late 12th century CE, now being restored and set in a garden with Islamic designs and a huge vertical sun clock.

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

The Virtual Paintout is in South Korea this
month. I had originally planned to paint a
Streetview of PyeongChang, which will be the site of the 2018 Winter Olympics
next February. However, that area, near the north-east
coast, doesn’t seem to have been covered by Google Streetview yet. Only the areas around Seoul in the north-west
and Busan on the south-east coast, as well as some National Parks are included in the coverage.
My painting shows the view looking towards Bukhansan National Park from Seoul. Here is the link to it.

Sunday, May 14, 2017

On our second day in
Iran we flew to Tabriz, in the Northwest corner of the country, where we saw all the important sights, the highlight of which was the
historic Blue Mosque of Tabriz. The picture on the left shows me inside this
mosque, wearing the headscarf required at all times in Iran. We ended our day
with dinner in a pavilion on El Goli, the famous square lake in the centre of
the city. As it was Thursday evening, the beginning of the week-end, after
dinner we joined hundreds of local families enjoying a stroll on the
entertainment-filled perimeter of the lake.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

From April 5 to 17 I
was one of 20 participants on a marvelous tour ‘Treasures of Iran’ organized by
the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, and guided by Barry Till, the Gallery’s
Curator of Asian Arts.

I started (barely) several
sketches while I was there, but we had so many places to go and things to do
that I am only now actually finishing any of them.

This first sketch is
the view of the Milad Tower and the Alborz Mountains from our hotel in Tehran ... except
I have made it the view from nearby Laleh Park and included the hotel (the
whitish building with the distinctive Y-shape) in the picture. Because I can.

About Me

Charlene Brown is a Canadian painter who started writing about painting trips during the ten years she and her husband lived in Dubai. The Gulf Weekly began publishing her accounts of painting trips in that part of the Arabian peninsula -- then said they might consider other countries, even such exotic locations as Canada! She had written about painting trips in over twenty countries by the time her husband retired and they returned to Canada to live.